Key findings of the 2014 Investment Trends Planning Software Benchmarking Report:
- IRESS’ XPLAN is the top rated Australian planning application for 2014 with AdviserNETgain the top rated hybrid planning/platform application
- Rubik Provisio was surveyed as the best superannuation scaled advice application
- FOFA compliance is being implemented by investing in planning technology
- New Planning technology supports client facing advice delivery and aged care
IRESS’ XPLAN is the top rated Australian planning application for 2014 with AdviserNETgain the top rated hybrid planning/platform application
IRESS has continued to develop XPLAN into a world class financial planning application. XPLAN has achieved the highest score for any financial planning application in the ten years of the Investment Trends Planning Software Benchmarking Report.
XPLAN was top rated, followed by Rubik Coin and AdviserNETgain.
“XPLAN is a world class comprehensive planning application” says Ian Webster. “The quality of XPLAN and the other Australian planning applications in the benchmark is testament to licensees’ investment in technology and Australian software engineering talent.”
The top rated hybrid planning/platform application was AdviserNETgain.
Rubik Provisio was surveyed as the best superannuation scaled advice application
Scaled advice application development continues to explore new approaches to advice with a focus on SuperMatch based super account consolidation, insurance and personal retirement advice applications.
“Provisio has been the leading developer of intra-fund advice applications for many years and is now part of a growing category of applications offered different approaches to scaled advice delivery.” says Ian Webster. “Rubik Proviso was surveyed as the best superannuation scaled application ahead of Decimal and XPLAN Engage.”
FOFA compliance is being implemented by investing in planning technology
Licensees have made significant investments in the configuration of their planning applications, adviser training and the development of new planning applications to implement FOFA compliance. They have taken this opportunity to encourage their advisers to use more of the practice efficiency functionality developed in recent years.
“The use of workflow based compliance benchmarking requires advisers to use much more of their applications than just produce SOA documents.” said analyst Ian Webster. “Aligning compliance with increased practice efficiency should deliver a better business and more consistent client outcomes.” he said.
While most advisers continue to use XPLAN or Coin, others are using large dealer group applications like PlatformPlus or midwinter’s new AdviceOS and new applications based on Microsoft Dynamics or Salesforce CRM.
“Adding planning functionality to other applications is much easier than in the past with the availability of cloud based modelling modules from XPLAN, Provisio and AdviceOS” says Ian Webster. “Organisations can develop new technology to support their advice business model without having to develop the core modelling functionality.”
New planning technology supports client facing advice delivery and Aged Care.
New development is focused on advisers using mobile devices in client meetings. Advice applications like XPLANtouch, Coin Connect and WestPac Discover Your World support client friendly presentation and data collection tools connected in real-time to practice based applications for workflow and client data. These applications enable advisers to support their value of advice proposition where they spend most of their time with clients while the practice manages client relationships and generates advice documentation.
Aged Care advice had been a specialist practice for most advisers until recent changes to the Aged Care support system prompted development of new strategic modeling tools that will enable advisers to add support for aged care advice.
